The Turkish Grand National Assembly's European Union Harmonization Commission met today before the Türkiye-EU Joint Parliamentary Commission meeting to be held on 26-27 October.
'THEY WOULDN'T VOTE FOR YOU'
At the beginning of the meeting, an election was held to replace NEW Party Izmir Deputy Yüksel Taşkın, who resigned from the CHP and the commission chairmanship, with the decision to annul the CHP. Taşkın was the only candidate. İYİ Party Kocaeli Deputy Lütfü Türkkan laughed and asked CHP Eskişehir Deputy Jale Nur Süllü, "Will you vote?" He stated that he asked this at the request of DEM Party Diyarbakır Deputy Cengiz Çandar. Çandar, laughing again, said, "They wouldn't vote for you." Yüksel Taşkın was re-elected as the deputy chairman of the commission by receiving the votes of 15 of the 15 members who voted.
'DEVELOPMENTS MAY OCCUR IN MADE IN EUROPE'
In his presentation on Türkiye-EU relations, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mehmet Kemal Bozay said that the problems experienced with the Union in 2019 have been overcome in the last 2-3 years and high-level contacts have been held. He noted that their priorities today are increasing investments through the European Investment Bank, updating the customs union and ensuring visa liberalization. Bozay also drew attention to the importance of being involved in the Made in Europe project and said, "We are carrying out studies here, especially in the context of the needs of the automotive industry. We expect that there will be some important developments in this regard in the coming period." Bozay argued that the methodology showing Turkey's harmonization rate with the European Union as 4 percent is not correct and said, "With different methodologies, this can rise to 44 percent."
ECHR QUESTION TO BOZAY
After the presentation, İYİ Party Kocaeli Deputy Lütfü Türkkan took the floor and said, "Does Turkey really want to join the EU, or is it stalling? Who would take into account the efforts of a country that insists on not implementing the ECHR decisions to join the EU? If you say 'I will go skiing, but I will wear a swimsuit', one's sanity will be doubted. That is the way it is." Bozay responded to this by saying, "We are going through difficult times. We are members of the Council of Europe. When we reach a certain rate there, we have a very high rate of compliance with the decisions in the ECHR. If I am not mistaken, it is around 90 percent. But here, there may be deliberate concentration on some cases, through some circles, on a name basis." Bozay stated that the coup attempt in 2016 also damaged the system and said, "There is also a reconstruction process behind some of our problems." Bozay also drew attention to the Cyprus property cases heard at the ECHR and noted that although Turkey paid its share of compensation, it did not receive the expected response; "Nobody in this picture is a pure white spoon," he said.
'IT IS NOT CORRECT TO GIVE A RATE'
In response, Türkkan said, "It's bad for us, but I don't accept their bad defense style either. 10 years have passed since the coup attempt. The traces of the 1980 coup did not remain in 1990. If the traces of the 2016 coup continue in 2026, this is due to short-sighted policies." DEM Party member Çandar said, "There is the iconic Dreyfus case in France. When Dreyfus is mentioned, no one says, 'But it was complied with to this extent.' We also have iconic cases in terms of the ECHR. One of them is Osman Kavala, there is a new ECHR decision, there should be a retrial. This is what is required by our own constitution. Likewise, there is the Selahattin Demirtaş case. The whole world knows that these are double standards. The EU also uses them against us when necessary. We are the European Convention on Human Rights." "Let's fulfill our obligation," he said.
'IT IS NOT MY PLACE TO TALK ABOUT CASES'
Bozay, on the other hand, said, "The executive has a responsibility, everyone has their own areas of responsibility. It is not my place to comment on the cases. It is a matter in the judiciary. We are talking about this issue with our Ministry of Justice and other ministries. I would like to emphasize that we also have expectations in the symbolic cases section: There are tremendous injustices in the cases regarding the Cyprus issue. I would like to point out that there are times when the ECHR and other institutions do not make completely non-political, legal-based comments. When we see the double standards, we do not think, 'Why are we being pressured so much?' We are asking what you said to our minister." "We will present it, but after that it is beyond us," he said. DEM Party Diyarbakır Deputy Ceylan Akça Cupolo said to Bozay, "I had the opportunity to observe how much you suffered in your statement regarding the ECHR decision."
'EU DOES NOT WANT IT AS MUCH AS WE DO'
AKP Gaziantep Deputy Ali Şahin, reminding that he previously served as Deputy Minister of EU Affairs for 3 years, said that the EU did not make as much effort to include Turkey as Turkey wanted to enter the EU. He stated that the Union "used excuses" for problems such as Cyprus, the terrorism problem and democracy. "Even though they did not accept themselves as a Christian club, we saw the codes of being a Christian club in all their reflexes," he said.
'WE DO NOT SAY THESE OUTSIDE'
CHP's Jale Nur Süllü, on the other hand, said, "Our relations with the EU have ceased to be a membership and have become give-and-take. Unfortunately, the government, the executive, and the EU accept this. When Marta Kos came to Turkey on October 9, she explained that she had concerns about democracy. In the end, she focused her speech on a mutually beneficial cooperation with Turkey due to the changing geopolitical conditions. The Turkey reports announced every year are obvious, there has been no development, etc. The Constitutional Court made a decision regarding Tayfun Kahraman on October 8, she "Okay, some things may happen in other countries, but let's do our homework," he said. Süllü also stated that they do not complain about Turkey abroad and said, "When we go abroad, we do not talk about these things, we say Greece, we say Cyprus." Türkkan similarly said, "We do not talk about these things abroad. The conversations we have there are different from here. What we say abroad is not true." AKP member Ali Şahin stated that he has been aware of Lütfü Türkkan's "national stance" for a long time.
